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Siege of Kingman
The Siege of Kingman was a battle during the NCR Arizona Offensive against the Caesar's Legion in March, 2282. The siege was the first of a string of NCR victories in the NCR Arizona Offensive. Background Following the NCR Victory at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, President Aaron Kimball allocated additional New California Republic Military troops, including armored and mechanized forces, to the Mojave Front. These forces were further bolstered by those of the Brotherhood of Steel, Enclave Remnants, the Boomers, and the Dead Horses, all of whom had allied themselves with the NCR in a deal brokered by the figure known as Courier 6. The NCR and allied offensive began with a two-pronged attack directed at the westernmost major Legion stronghold in Kingman, Arizona, with NCR forces attacking both from the north from Hoover Dam along the old US Highway 93, and the west out of Needles, California, along Interstate 40. Battle of Dolan Springs The first engagment of the Siege of Kingman was battle near the town of Dolan Springs, about 30 miles north of Kingman, and near a pass in the Cerbat Mountains, in which NCR infantry and armored forces numbering about 300 men and 40 pre-war tanks engaged about 200 Legion soldiers, 30 improvised fighting vehicles and 10 pre-war tanks. The engagement was rout, with the vast majority of the Legion troops and all of the vehicles being annihilated. It was at this battle that the two XM58 Self-Propelled Laser Weapons seized by NCR forces at from the Nevada test site saw their first action. Surrounding the City After the victory at Dolan Springs, the NCR force attacking from the north split up, with about half the force continuing along Highway 65 and half of it crossing he Cerbat Mountains at Dolan Springs and advancing south across the open desert valley, the armored and mechanized units quickly making their way to the Kingman Airport, which has no active aircraft, and quickly seized it with little resistance, before advancing to block off Interstate 40 and cut off the Legion's primary escape route to the east. Unfortunately, they did not arrive in time to prevent the escape of Aurelius of Phoenix, the Third Caesar of the Legion, after the deaths of both the original Caesar and Lanius. At the same time, NCR armor and infantry blocked off the mountain pass through the Cerbat Range, through which Highway 93 entered Kingman. NCR forces advancing up Interstate 40 blocked off the southwestern route out of the city through another pass. Kingman and the remaining Legion forces were now completely surrounded. The New California Republic and the Boomers set up artillery batteries on the crest of the Cerbat range along old dirt roads. Included in the artillery were the two XM58 laser vehicles, which would prove capable to fire on any target in Kingman with pinpoint accuracy. At the same time, fortifications, weapons caches, and troop concentrations were bombarded by the artillery, as well as NCR and Brotherhood of Steel aircraft, which included a few dozen Vertibird gunships, as well as fixed wing aircraft, specifically a seven F-80 Meteor and one F-108 "Rapier" of the NCR Air Force, as well the Boomer's B-29 Superfortress bomber. Taking the City After surrounding and bombarding the city of Kingman for three days, NCR General Lee Oliver ordered NCR armored and infantry forces to attack the city of Kingman from all directions. NCR armor attacking from I-40 and US-93 entered the city on March 16th, 2281, the firepower of their heavy guns proving highly effective at dislodging Legion troops holed up in buildings. The XM-58 was also employed for close-support fire missions across the city, where it's laser proved capable of setting fire to wooden structures and melting through the steel support beams of larger pre-war buildings, sending them collapsing to the ground in a heap of burning debris. The NCR forces managed to seize both downtown Kingman and the Legion fortifications on top of the hills separating the downtown from the rest of the city. Forces attack from the east made inroads into the newer part of the city by the end of the day. The NCR forces were helped by a revolt that broke out among the Legion captives and slaves, who managed to kill their guards before they could detonate their explosive collars. Many Legionaries, particularly the recruits mutinied and joined in the revolt. The Centurion placed in charge of the Legion forces after Aurelius and the legate's departure is believed to have been killed in this uprising. Late on March 16th, representatives of the rebels linked up the NCR and allied forces under a flag of truce. The anti-Legion rebels, who had armed themselves with various weapons seized from the Legion not only bolstered NCR-Allied ranks, but also provided valuable intelligence on the locations of remaining Legion pockets of resistance, as well as Legion forces further to the west. In spite of the support of the rebels, pockets of Legion resistance held out of four more days, until March 19th, when the last of the rebels surrendered. Aftermath During the Battle of Kingman, the Legion would suffer the loss of about 700 of the roughly 2000 Legion troops defending the city, while 500 mutinied and joined the uprising and the remainder surrendered. The NCR and Allied forces lost 143 infantry as well as two NCR tanks and four Securitrons from the New Vegas forces destroyed. About 400 slaves and other civilians were killed by a combination of the uprising and collateral damage from NCR and Allied fire. With the Fall of Kingman, the NCR and Allied forces had cleared the first major Legion strong point in Arizona. The offensive would continue down Interstate 40, towards the Legion capital of Nova Roma, formerly Flagstaff, AZ. The slave revolt in Kingman would foreshadow similar events in Nova Roma and Phoenix, proving just how tenuous Caesar's control of his Legionaries, which was based purely on fear, was, and how quickly it could be shattered when the power of the Legion was threatened. Category:Battles